Antonio Vasco, the mayoral candidate of Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, for the northern city of Pemba, warned on Wednesday that Renamo will only accept the results of the municipal elections “if there is no fraud”.

Speaking to reporters immediately after he had cast his vote, Vasco forecast the downfall of the ruling Frelimo Party

“Young people are revolted against the regime that is in power and wants to see the fruit of independence, which it has not yet seen”, he declared.

“If we are defeated, we shall accept the results, but only if the process is transparent, because we are in a democracy”, Vasco said. “On the other hand, if there is fraud, we shall not accept this fraud”.

Renamo has always claimed that Mozambican elections are fraudulent. It even dismissed the first multi-party election, held in 1994, as a fraud, although the United Nations Special Representative in Mozambique at the time, Aldo Ajello, described it as “the best election ever held in Africa”.

Despite his fears of fraud, Vasco said he felt proud that he had voted. He then urged those Pemba citizens who had not yet voted to vote en masse for Renamo, so that it would win control of the Municipal Assembly and he could become mayor.

Campaigning for a political party after the official campaign period has closed (which was on Sunday night) is illegal, and political party propaganda of any kind inside a polling station is also illegal.